In Our Nature

The Green Office Certification Program encourages everyone at the University of Washington to help make their workplace sustainable. One of the areas of emphasis in the certification form is energy conservation, and it's also an area where many offices have room for improvement.

Below are a few tips on how your office can take easy steps to reduce energy use. For more ideas, see our Green Office Resources page or email us at sustainability@uw.edu.

Remember to Turn Off the Lights...

The EcoReps are excited for another quarter working with a new team of Service Learners! We had our first meeting on Wednesday, January 13th where we had the opportunity to meet all of the new recruits. We have a handful of projects that we are working on this quarter, and we would like to highlight a couple of them:

We will be working with Earth Club to continue Tap That, a project based on reducing the consumption of disposable water bottles on campus through educational outreach. A major focus will be to educate students, faculty, and staff on the locations...

Take a break from studying and check out what’s happening around the UW campus. Some of the week's highlights are listed below, and you can find out even more items happening on campus with our full calendar. The full Sustainability Events calendar is the best place to find the most up-to-date listings and details on all events. Also, if you know of any events, please let us know. We’d love to add them to our calendar! And if you'd like to get a weekly email of all the upcoming sustainability events, ...

Please join us for the UW Safety, Sustainability, and Preparedness Expo on Wednesday, February 10, 2016. We will be in the HUB Ballroom from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering fun and interesting activities to UW faculty, staff, and students.

• Enjoy light refreshments
• Enter a drawing for door prizes
• Start your own personal, portable emergency kit
• Learn more about being safe, sustainable, and prepared
• Pick up free items from UW departments and safety supply vendors

Your RSVP...

With the second week of winter quarter officially underway, don’t forget to check out a whole new lineup of sustainability events. Some of the week's highlights are listed below, and you can find out even more items happening on campus this week with our full calendar (we're always adding events as we learn about them, so the full Sustainability Events calendar is also the best place to find the most up-to-date listings and details on all events). If you know of any events which should be added, let us know, and if you'd...

This Fall, UW Tacoma's Carbon Challenge presented a talk by zero-waste advocate Lauren Singer showcasing how people can live a zero-waste lifestyle. The event was one part of the Carbon Challenge, a Green Seed Fund project to encourage students, faculty and staff to take steps to reduce their carbon footprint. As part of the challenge, during fall quarter...

Happy New Year! As you start to compile your list of New Year's resolutions, why not add Green Lab or Green Office certification to your list? Why, you might ask? The more labs and offices that participate in the programs, the greater their contribution will be towards making the University more sustainable. Plus, you receive a certificate to hang in your office or lab and FREE coffee from Husky Grind as a thank you for being green! What a great way to begin the new year--with an award and some delicious coffee!

Find out below which program fits your work area.

Green...

Seattle wants your perspective on how to improve the pedestrian experience in the city. The Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board is now accepting applications for several new members to help make walking in Seattle safer and easier.  The volunteer board, which was created by Seattle City Council in 1993, plays an influential role in implementing Seattle’s Pedestrian Master Plan. The board advises the Mayor and City Council, participates in planning and project development, evaluates policies and makes recommendations to all city departments including the Seattle Department of Transportation (...

This article is from the UW Environmental Health & Safety newsletter.

We invite all members of the UW community to contribute to improving the environment by participating in our integrated pest management program. You can help by not using pesticides or insecticides on campus.

If you see pests in a building or on UW grounds, please contact UW Environmental Health & Safety at 206-543-7209, 206-616-1623, or phdept@uw.edu. We will send a pest control...

UW Sustainability supports sustainable initiatives happening all over. The UW Tacoma campus has outstanding sustainability efforts, and the surrounding City of Tacoma is also working to address environmental challenges.

Tacoma is working on an Environmental Action Plan (EAP) which will work to identify priority actions to address environmental challenges. The city of Tacoma strives to achieve quality of life for every generation, present and...